SMYRNA, Tenn. – The National Guard’s most senior enlisted member visited the Tennessee National Guard last week to learn more about an innovative program helping Guard members in the Volunteer State improve their fitness levels and individual readiness.

Senior Enlisted Advisor John Raines, SEA to the chief of the National Guard Bureau, saw how the Tennessee Guard’s Guard Readiness Improvement Training—known as GRIT—is helping with holistic Soldier development and long-term readiness.

GRIT is the Tennessee Guard’s application of the Army’s Holistic Health and Fitness system, designed to retain and strengthen the force through physical, mental, nutritional, spiritual and sleep readiness training. The two-week program combines medical evaluations, tiered fitness plans, life coaching and resilience education to help members improve fitness test scores, remove adverse action flags and enhance retention across the force.

According to SEA Raines, "Readiness starts with every Soldier and Airman in the National Guard." He lauded the program as "an excellent initiative that is making a huge difference for the Tennessee Guard. Our 433,000 Guardsmen nationwide must be ready to answer the call."

One of those Soldiers is Sgt. Rodney Woods, who volunteered for GRIT not because he had to—but because he wanted to grow.

“I’m here because they told me it’s a life coach program and I wanted to make myself better,” said Woods, a unit supply specialist with Joint Force Headquarters, Tennessee National Guard. “There’s nothing wrong with me, but I can always improve.”

For Woods, the program’s value extended beyond workouts and classroom sessions.

“What I’ve learned here is that this environment lets you be your authentic self without judgment,” he said. “You can trust the people around you. Ninety percent of your problems are in your mind, and if you can control your mind, you can control the situation.”

That mindset feeds directly into mission capability, according to Sgt. 1st Class Ken Weichart, GRIT’s noncommissioned officer in charge.

Participants have consistently returned to their units with higher Army Fitness Test scores, improved body composition and renewed confidence—contributing to lifted flags, increased retention and better-trained formations.

“Right now, 40% of them don’t need to be here,” Weichart said. “They come here because they want to be here, and the other 60% are on a waiver of some kind.”

The Tennessee Guard GRIT program welcomes both Army and Air Guard members, creating a blueprint for inclusive, total-force readiness, Weichart added.

While in Tennessee, Raines also visited Soldiers with the 117th Regiment, Regional Training Institute, where he received mission briefings and engaged with students in military police and unit supply re-class courses.

He joined Soldiers taking the Army Fitness Test, visited the Tennessee Air National Guard’s 118th Wing, and co-hosted a town hall with Tennessee Guard senior enlisted leaders.

During his stop at the 118th Wing, Raines learned about the unit’s MQ-9 Reaper mission—a critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability that supports both federal deployments and domestic emergency response.

At the town hall, Raines emphasized the Guard’s evolving role on the modern battlefield.

“The character of warfare is changing,” he said. “And the only way we’re going to deter and defeat our adversaries is through mission command. We need team leaders engaged, involved and leading units. We need squad leaders, platoon leaders and first sergeants who don’t wait around for someone to tell them what to do.